


Through Other Means

by Hekate1308



Series: Tales of the Thursdays [2]
Category: Endeavour (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, The Thursdays adopt Morse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-11
Updated: 2019-06-11
Packaged: 2020-04-24 15:25:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,404
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19176115
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hekate1308/pseuds/Hekate1308
Summary: It was a beautiful day and the children had been enjoying themselves greatly when Win Thursday turned around and realized she could no longer see Sam. As usual in such case, her first instinct was to blindly panic, but she reigned it in. The park wasn’t that big, and Sam couldn’t have got far.So she started calling out for him, telling Joan to stay close at the same time. She’d expected to hear his voice; what she hadn’t foreseen was that he’d be calmly walking towards them, holding the hand of an older boy.





	Through Other Means

**Author's Note:**

> Guess what. It is a series now. Enjoy!

It was a beautiful day and the children had been enjoying themselves greatly when Win Thursday turned around and realized she could no longer see Sam. As usual in such case, her first instinct was to blindly panic, but she reigned it in. The park wasn’t that big, and Sam couldn’t have got far.

So she started calling out for him, telling Joan to stay close at the same time. She’d expected to hear his voice; what she hadn’t foreseen was that he’d be calmly walking towards them, holding the hand of an older boy.

Morse, as Sam introduced him, was very polite and friendly; but as she took him in, Win couldn’t help but observe that his clothes were quite obviously rather worn and even a little too small for him. Maybe his parents didn’t have a lot of money; after all, she herself remembered living with her in-laws very well; it would also explain why he’d go to the park all by himself.

Then, however, he explained that his mother had died and that he was now living with his father and stepmother, and an altogether much more unpleasant suspicion darted through her mind. But no; she shouldn’t condemn people she didn’t know just because Morse was wearing a thin shirt.

As the children played tag, she looked at the book he’d brought with him. Tennyson. Somewhat advanced for a twelve-year-old, but then, Morse was very well-spoken. After checking to make sure they were preoccupied – it might have been wrong, but she’d always had a streak of curiosity – she gently lifted the book cover and read the words someone had carefully written there in their most beautiful handwriting.

_For Endeavour. Happy 12 th birthday. All my love, Mum. _

She closed the book.

When it was time to say goodbye, he looked so crestfallen that she couldn’t help but tell him they went to the park often. He probably hadn’t yet found any friends, and add losing his mother to that… he must feel like a fish out of water.

* * *

That evening, she told her husband about their children’s new playmate.

“You should have seen him; so shy, and so afraid of saying the wrong thing. That poor boy.”

Fred hummed. “Sounds like all might not be well at home.”

“I thought the same, but I couldn’t very well ask.”

He hummed again. They understood one another.

* * *

It didn’t take her long to start making sandwiches for Morse, too. She remembered the war very well; she knew the look of hunger in a child’s eyes; and a growing boy he was, too. He must be famished at lunchtime.

He tried to protest, of course, like always when she tried to give him something, but she was firm. Morse needed to eat.

The children were growing fonder of him with each passing day, and Win slowly got closer to him too. She tried her best to get as much information about his home life as she could without appearing noisy – she wasn’t sure she succeeded, but what she heard spoke little of contentment or even love. Morse did his best to sound happy, of course; that conscientious boy would never have risked sounding like he was complaining; and yet…

Eventually, Fred decided to pay them a visit. He might have told a white lie to get into the house, but it was worth it.

“They certainly have enough money to get him something decent to wear” he told her in the evening. “The baby was wearing all new clothes. And his stepmother was ordering Morse around like a servant.”

It was as she had feared, then.

“I think” Fred decided, “It is time that I get to know Morse better.”

She had definitely chosen the right man to marry.

* * *

And that was how they slowly learned all they could about Endeavour Morse – although she never made the mistake of trying and calling him by his first name after she saw his face when she did one sunny afternoon.

Gently and carefully, she got him to tell her more and more about himself, the things he enjoyed, what he wanted to do when he’d finished school. She wasn’t surprised to hear that he wanted to go on to study; he was certainly very smart. Now and then, the kiddies didn’t even want to run around in the park, but demanded that he read to them, and he always acquiesced.

Fred always carefully listened to their conversations.

“He’s a good lad” he told her one day. “I don’t think anything really bad is going on at his Dad’s, but he’s certainly being neglected. They don’t even seem to wonder what he’s doing when he’s not home.”

It was true; she had asked him today if his parents didn’t have anything against him spending so much time in the park and he’d shrugged and told her his stepmother thought he was in the way all the time when he was home.

Well, they could help that woman, she thought.

And so, when the days grew colder, they invited Morse to their house. He took a while to come, but once he did, Win set about to make him feel as welcome as she could. It seemed she succeeded, because he soon began to come to their home directly from school, doing his homework at the kitchen table. She made sure he usually had a cup of tea and something sweet to help.

And always, always did he try to tell her that she didn’t have to. It was difficult at those times not to pull him in her arms and smother him with the love he so rightfully deserved.

Especially when he one day offhandedly mentioned his birthday and she realized they’d missed his thirteenth. She swore to herself that next year, they would do their outmost so he had a good one.

Really, she would later think, the situation had to be resolved one way or the other. They had known him over a year, he treated both her and Fred with all the reverence and warmth she was certain he had shown towards his mother, and the children were growing confused why Morse didn’t just stay with them.

Eventually, she and Fred put a second bed in Sam’s bedroom; they pretended that it was because he would have to switch to a big boy bed one of these days, but really, they had other plans.

Win would fail to forgive herself for not acting sooner when Morse didn’t make it to the park for a week. Now and then, when he had felt he had to focus on school, he had skipped a few days, it was true; but when she saw him that Saturday, she had trouble concealing her shock.

He looked awful. Morse barely managed to speak without wheezing, coughing or sneezing, and it actually looked like he had problems keeping himself up right.

As she watched him struggle through playing with the children, she caught Fred’s eyes.

They didn’t have to talk about it. They knew what to do.

“How about we see you home, Morse?” Fred asked and he seemed too exhausted to realize they didn’t usually. The poor boy.

When they arrived, Morse didn’t manage to introduce them; instead, he wandered into what turned out to be the living room and slumped down on the sofa.

Oh God. They needed to get him out of here as soon as possible.

She did her best to keep the children occupied (they were both confused and scared) while Fred talked to the Morses in the kitchen. When he called out to her to get a cab, she understood he had succeeded.

While everything in her screamed to go and take care of Morse, Joan and Sam were growing restless and so she waited with them outside, waving the cab over when it arrived.

Fred emerged with Morse in his arms a moment later and her heart constricted in her chest. Oh dear, please don’t let it be too late.

In the cab, she felt his forehead. He was burning up. She knew from experience that things were going to get worse before they got better.

Thank God they had already put the bed in Sam’s room. The doctor arrived soon after they had called him.

Win breathed a sigh of relief when he told them that Morse should fully recover, although later, in the kitchen where his patient couldn’t hear him, he admitted that there was a chance that, untreated, Morse’s cold might have turned into pneumonia. Her blood ran cold.

* * *

“I offered them to take care of Morse until their house is fixed up” Fred said later, after they had put the children to bed and cheeked to make sure that he was sleeping somewhat peacefully for the moment. She quickly made them a cup of tea.

“What did they say?”

“They barely put up any resistance. Seemed like they didn’t cherish the prospect of having to look after him while he was ill.”

She huffed. “And to think that man dares call himself his father.”

“He’s with us now, pet. We’ll see him right.”

* * *

After a feverish night – her prediction had been right – Morse started on the road to recovery quickly. He spent most of his time sleeping, but could breathe easier, and he seemed to grow calmer, too.

Once, he called her Mum. She didn’t have the heart to tell him who she was, so she kissed his forehead.

Still – she was more than a little relieved when he woke up, obviously on the mend.

Nothing could control the enthusiasm of Joan and Sam, though. They took to spending most of their time with Morse in Sam’s room, despite Win’s pleas not to tire him out.

Morse never complained. Of course not. “Really, Mrs. Thursday, I like having them here” he told her, and the fact that the light was slowly returning to his eyes was enough to give in and allow them as much time with their friend as they wanted.

* * *

He didn’t seem to remember calling her Mum – it was probably for the best, even if, in her heart of hearts, she wouldn’t have anything against it.

One day, she found Morse sitting up in bed, the children having for once listened to her pleas that he needed time for himself, frowning at his book. “Morse? Is everything alright?”

He looked up, his eyes shining. “I like it here” he admitted quietly. She heard the unspoken _And I don’t want to leave._

She drew him into a hug.

* * *

Eventually, Morse could get up and she decided it was time he got some proper clothes. No hand-me-downs that didn’t fit properly.

Money would be a bit tight until the end of the month, as she well knew, but if anyone deserved something nice, it was her poor boy.

And the look of utter delight on his face when she bought him the Rosalind Calloway LP made it more than worth it.

* * *

Morse had been staying with them for a month – had grown so used to it that he habitually had tea with them before bed and had in fact just gone upstairs – when they admitted the truth to themselves.

“Win?” Fred asked, lighting his pipe.

“Yes, love?”

“We don’t want Morse to leave again, do we.”

No. They definitely didn’t want him to go back to that loveless house. Win already loved him like her own, and she rather suspected that Fred felt the same.

They shared a look and Fred nodded. “I’ll contact Morse senior tomorrow. See what I can do.”

* * *

The next morning, she made quick work of suggesting to Joan and Sam that they and Morse should go to the park. He immediately agreed, as usual.

He really smiled much more since he had come to stay with them. It suited him.

Her heart beat wildly in her chest as she watched the children leave. _Please, God, let it all end well._

As soon as they were out of sight, Fred called the Morses’ house. As it turned out, Morse’s father was only too glad to come over after his shift.

“What do you think?” she asked.

Fred looked up and she realised how angry he was. “He didn’t even ask how Morse was doing” he spat before calming down. “His own son, and he didn’t think of –“ He took a deep breath. “Sorry, pet.”

“You don’t have to apologize. I would like to have a few words with him myself.”

“First things first. We’ll have to make everything official so he can’t take Morse away from us if the thought strikes him.”

* * *

As it turned out, it was almost disgustingly easy. Mr. Morse arrived after his shift, greeted her courtly, then proceeded to discuss things with Fred, because it was clear he was one of those who believed women shouldn’t be allowed to talk business.

She huffed and left them to it. If Fred needed her, he’d call.

Still, now and then she eavesdropped.

Things seemed to be going well even if she once heard something that almost made her barge into the room.

“Once my signature’s on there, he’s your problem… or whatever you want him to be.”

Surely, he didn’t think –

She cut the vegetables with a bit more force than necessary.

A little while later, Fred came into the kitchen, looking disgusted. “It’s all set, pet. A one-time payment of two hundred pounds and we can adopt him.”

“I’ll call Aunt Reenie” she said automatically. It was better to deal with how to get the money than think about how this man was basically selling his wonderful boy.

No. Their wonderful boy. Their oldest son. She would never think of him in another way again.

* * *

Aunt Reenie laughed when she told her. “Just like you two to take in the first lonely boy you meet. Of course I’ll help out.”

She smiled. It seemed like their family was about to grow.

* * *

Morse, when he first realized that he could stay, looked absolutely stunned, even as the children celebrated.

She and Fred took him in their arms. He would soon learn what it meant to be part of a proper family again.

And maybe…

She smiled as she imagined it.

One day, she would tell him that she would consider it an honour if he called her Win.

Or perhaps something else.

**Author's Note:**

> I just realized this reads less like adoption and more like friendly kidnapping XD. Oh well.


End file.
